By Valeria Gutierrez and Mercer Stauch
President Trump’s administration has been marked by a significant increase in ICE detentions, including of legal residents, green card holders, and undocumented migrants in the Seattle-Tacoma community. The Northwest ICE Processing Center (NWIPC), a for-profit ICE processing facility located minutes from campus, saw a significant spike in arrivals following Trump’s inauguration. According to La Resistencia, an immigrant rights advocacy group that tracks activity at the detention center, weekly arriving flights in the first month of Trump’s presidency carried 90-100 detainees each. Fewer arrive now as the detention center reaches capacity.
Multiple detentions have illuminated new risks to legal residents under Trump. The Seattle Times reported that Lewelyn Dixon, a green-card holder from the Philippines who works as a lab technician at UW Medical School, was detained by ICE upon returning to the US from the Philippines. According to the Legal Aid Society, ICE can legally arrest any non-citizen it deems a detention priority, including green-card holders and long-term residents. Which individuals ICE prioritizes can change depending on the presidential administration. Dixon’s lawyer believes ICE detained her for an embezzlement conviction from 2001, a nonviolent crime for which she already served her sentence. The Department of Homeland Security has claimed that 75% of its 33,242 arrests in Trump’s first 50 days were accused or convicted criminals; it remains unclear whether that statistic includes individuals with resolved past offenses like Dixon. UW Medical School did not respond to a request for comment.
Oganes Doganyan, an Armenian refugee detained in the NWIPC, may die awaiting deportation. His attorneys say his rare medical condition, which causes excessive bleeding, is being neglected in the NWIPC. The Washington State Standard reported that this medical neglect accusation is one of many the center has faced over the years, and many are concerned that the increased number of detainees will worsen the situation.
Pacific Lutheran University student Sofia Navarro, an undergraduate Detained Immigrants Advocate intern for the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project (NWIRP), toured the NWIPC and met with detainees. “I heard that there aren’t enough blankets, sleeping is hard, the client that I went to visit said he’d rather be dead than stay in the detention center any longer,” she said. Her work with NWIRP is focused on connecting detainees with lawyers, which are not guaranteed. “Detainees have the right to legal counsel but not the right to a government-appointed attorney,” she explained. “They are free to hire one or ask for a list of pro bono attorneys.”
Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards and City Council Member Kristina Walker both said that their power over the NWIPC is limited since it’s privately owned and operates on behalf of ICE, a federal agency. Still, they understand many of their constituents would like to see the Center shut down. “In February 2018, the City Council passed an ordinance establishing permanent land use regulations which rezoned the Port Maritime Industrial district where the NWIPC is sited to prohibit the construction of new correction and detention facilities, and prohibit the expansion of existing ones, including the NWIPC,” Woodard explained. “The NWIPC may continue in operation, but may not expand. If NWIPC operations cease, they may not resume.” The city council also established a deportation defense fund in 2017 to pay for legal services for detainees through the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. “That fund was built up originally, but has been flat for a while,” Walker said. “I think there’s interest in adding dollars there. There was also an opportunity for the public to contribute to that fund.”
Council Member Walker added that Washington House Bill 1470, which her office helped develop, engages the WA Department of Health to regulate access to food, clean water and medical care within the NWIPC. HB 1470 also subjects the NWIPC to the Public Records Act, which allows members of the public to request and access inspection reports, grievance complaints, and budgetary information from the NWIPC. “What we’ve figured out as legislators in Tacoma is that our leverage really is at the state level, and so we’ve focused our efforts there,” Walker said. HB 1470 was blocked by a federal judge last March; the state is seeking to appeal that ruling. “It’s slow-moving work, and I know it’s not what we all want to see. We want to see overnight action. But from a policy perspective, it’s the one thing we can lean into,” Walker said.
No international students attending Puget Sound have been detained, nor have any international visas been revoked. Still, the University is monitoring the growing risk. In an email to campus, Provost Drew Kerkhoff encouraged international students, faculty, and staff to assess the risk of international travel and consider remaining in the United States. “We put some emphasis on reminding students that we don’t currently have in front of us any travel bans, but that’s something we are anticipating could come back online,” said Eowyn Greeno, Director of International Programs. Her office has contacted all students with F-1 visas to review their rights and resources.
Additionally, as of April 18th, the Department of Homeland Security has terminated the records of 34 international students in Washington in the Student and Exchange Visitor Information System (SEVIS), an unprecedented action. According to DHS, many of these terminations are due to past alleged crimes or misdemeanors, and mean these students no longer have legal status in the United States. “Anyone to whom that happens, our first recommendation is to be in touch with a skilled immigration attorney who has experience working with F-1 students,” Greeno said.
Alex Wang (‘26), who holds an F-1 visa, said the meetings were productive and made him feel confident in the University’s efforts. “They are actively monitoring our document status every day,” he said. “Walking out of that meeting, I felt more grounded than I have in a while. It’s not just about resources, it’s about knowing there are people actively thinking about our well-being and safety,” Wang said.
An undocumented Puget Sound student, who chose to remain anonymous, said that Trump’s actions have made her family take extra precautions. “I cannot go back to see my family easily because Trump is trying to change things in airports, where you have to have a USA passport. So I’m not able to visit my family. They have to come and drive to me, which is 12 hours,” they said. Vice President of Institutional Equity and Diversity, Dr. Lorna Hernandez Jarvis, said the administration’s actions take a broad toll on our community. “Based on social science research for years, not just recently, the evidence is clear that immigrants present an incredible positive impact in American society. And these new policies are creating fear among those immigrants, impacting them in negative ways,” she said.
On March 12, North End Tacoma Students for a Democratic Society (NETSDS) partnered with Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) and protested on the corner of Alder Street and 15th. Speakers demanded the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University student and a permanent U.S. resident, whom ICE detained in March, acting on orders from the U.S. State Department. Haze Bender, an FRSO organizer, told the crowd of students and community members that ICE raided his workplace, but detained no one. “That’s why it’s important to know your rights,” he said. “No one was apprehended at my workplace because we knew our rights.” NETSDS and FRSO did not respond to requests for comment.